A wasted talent

Father Ted star branded 'stubborn and lazy'

Father Ted star Dermot Morgan was a stubborn, lazy control freak who squandered much his talent because he couldn't concentrate, a new documentary claims.

Although film-maker Shay Healy hails Dermot as comic visionary, he also says ego and indiscipline prevented him from achieving his full potential.

He told the Sunday Times in Ireland: "I think I understood the fragility of his nature and the frustrations, the good and bad bits of him."

The documentary, True Lives: The Real Father Ted, will be aired on Ireland's RTE1 this Tuesday - more than five years after his death at the age of 45.

The broadcaster itself was the source of much of Dermot's ire, especially for cancelling his much-lauded, but politically controversial, radio satire Scrap Saturday, and dropping a planned TV quiz.

RTE blamed Morgan's desire to control, his erratic concentration and his irritability - traits the documentary recognises. But contributors to the documentary also say the broadcaster could have handled their temperamental talent a lot better.

Father Ted writer Arthur Mathews admitted: "He was highly strung, definitely, and a bit paranoid - though I suppose we all are a bit. I personally found it hard to talk to him because his concentration was so bad."

However, despite his faults, Morgan is still much admired by film-maker Healy. "He was he funniest, most outrageous, off the cuff person I ever met in my life," he concludes. "The profanity of his early demise still hurts me".

Sunday Times article